Everyone Loves Kagome
by TouchofPixieDust
Summary: She didn't care if the tears made her look weak. She was just too angry to care. Angry that Kouga loves Kagome.
1. Kouga Loves Kagome

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Kouga Loves Kagome

Branches ripped at her flesh as she ran. She was scared. She was heartbroken. But most of all she was angry. Furious!

Kouga loves Kagome.

Kouga loves Kagome!

KOUGA LOVES KAGOME!

Her heart was heavy in her chest, it hurt to even breathe. She didn't bother to wipe at the tears streaming down her face. She didn't care if the tears made her look weak. She was just too angry to care.

Angry that Kouga loves Kagome.

Angry that he DARED to insinuate that she was simply a broodmare for the demon wolf pack now that she was the only known surviving female wolf demon.

Angry that her life is no longer her own.

Angry that she will be expected to give Kouga's child, the one that she carries, to that wretched human girl to raise once he makes the miko his mate.

HIS MATE!

Ayame stopped running at the thought of the child inside her. Though her stomach was still flat, she knew. She knew that life was growing inside of her. And that knowledge was what made her abandon the wolf pack, her new family, to go in search of the miko.

She would NOT lose her child to that… that HUMAN!

Breathing heavily, the she-wolf wondered if running so hard was good for the baby. Should she be walking instead? Her hand flew to her stomach, an unconscious movement to protect her unborn child.

Panic filled her at the thought of unintentionally harming the child. But she had no one to ask about what was good for the baby. Her family was gone. And she certainly was not going to go back and ask Kouga or his pack any questions. The moment she realized she was pregnant she took off at a run when she was supposed to be hunting for dinner. She never once looked back. Kouga couldn't know. He would take her baby from her and give the infant to Kagome to mother while she would be expected to have another baby. Then another. Once he found out she could bear a child, there would be no end to it. He intended to repopulate his pack.

With her.

Then the daughters she would bear.

They would be given to whoever he felt was worthy to start the new generations of the pack. Prizes to his favorites as soon as the little girls became of age. Her precious babies... She would rather let the wolf pack die out!

She wondered how Kagome felt, or if she even knew that Kouga had no intentions of letting her have his child. Or at least a live child. He would not be the father of a hanyou. Or rather... he would not have a hanyou as a child.

Ayame had not realized that she had been tracking the miko until late afternoon. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted answers.

Or blood.

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Author's Note: Yes, I know the chapter is short. Several of them are likely to be short actually. I've never written a story from Ayame's point of view, and I rarely write drama, so this is all new to me. Luckily since her character doesn't have a huge part in the Inuyasha universe, so it leaves me a lot of room to be creative.


	2. Hojo Loves Kagome

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Hojo Loves Kagome

"Kagome!"

Ayame grumbled in her sleep, curling up tighter. Kagome was haunting her.

"Kagome!"

Green eyes popped open. It wasn't a dream... someone was actually calling for Kagome! She found her already? Quickly she jumped to her feet and gave herself a congratulatory cheer. Who knew she would be so good at tracking!

Quickly she brushed off the leaves and dirt from her nap on the forest floor. Should she bring out her weapons? Should she try to be friendly? Threatening? Act casual? Ayame squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she scolded herself for not thinking about what she would do when she actually caught up to Kagome.

A loud rumbling in her stomach decided things for her.

"I'm sorry, baby," she told her stomach as she patted it lovingly. "I'll find us food."

With her leaf weapon tucked at her side within easy reach, but hopefully not in a too threatening manner (she was hoping for food after all), the she-wolf started walking towards a small camp. When she arrived, she froze.

This wasn't Kagome...

Before she could sneak away, her stomach rumbled again.

Loudly.

"Oh, hello there," said a pleasant young man with sandy brown hair and a gentle smile. "Are you hungry, fellow traveler? We have plenty to share."

Well... she WAS hungry.

"I am Akitoki Hojo. This is my wife, Kagome."

Ayame blinked in surprise. "You are Kagome?"

The woman smiled and bowed her head in agreement. With a sigh, Ayame sat on the ground by the fire. How discouraging. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. Oh well, so what if it was the wrong Kagome, she still found A Kagome. It still counted as a sort of victory.

Kagome, the wrong Kagome, smiled at her and brought her a bowl of some sort of broth with fish in it. A nice fresh boar would have been nicer, but Ayame wasn't really in a position to complain.

"I'm looking for a Kagome," she said as she took a sip of some of the broth. Ew. Fish water. What were humans thinking with the foods they ate?

Both humans looked at her in interest.

"Kagome Higurashi?" asked the young man.

"Yes!"

"Would you like our help finding her?" he asked eagerly.

"Um..." She only just stopped herself from blurting out 'yes!'. Then she looked from him to his wife, whose eyes were lowered to the bowl in her hands and decided that perhaps it would be best if she continued her search on her own. "I think it would go faster if I searched alone. Have you seen her?"

"I have seen her."

Ayame frowned at the dreamy tone to his voice. She heard that tone often enough with Kouga and his pack. Their pack. What was so special about Kagome Higurashi that inspired such... devotion? It was irritating.

"Recently? Have you seen her recently?"

But Hojo was humming to himself and picking up the bowls, even hers. Was he crazy to take a bowl of food from a hungry wolf? Then again, she would not miss the fish water. Ew. And that audacity to not answer her question and just wander away? How had this human survived so long?

"I have never met this Kagome," the wrong Kagome said, "But my beloved husband admired her so. I strive to live up to her name."

"What's so great about Kagome?"

"Oh! My beloved husband has told me many tales of how brave and beautiful the lady Kagome is. She fights demons… oh… um… bad demons, of course… with unrivaled courage. With only a bow! She helps everyone who is in need and always looks after everyone's happiness. She is all that is good and pure and perfect in this world. That is why I work so hard to become Kagome."

Ayame cocked her head to the side, studying the woman across the fire from her. "What do you mean?"

The human woman bit her lip, then glanced in the direction her husband went. "My name is... was... Suzaku. Then I met and fell in love with my beloved husband Hojo. He asked if I would be willing to change my name to Kagome."

Ayame was horrified!

"I agreed."

"Why?"

The human shrugged. "It is just a name. And the name means so much to my beloved husband. He admired Kagome greatly, and I strive to become more like her. I try very hard to be as nice as his Kagome." She looked at Ayame a little worriedly. Her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest as she asked, "Was I nice? Could I have been nicer? How could I have been nicer?"

"Yes!" Ayame fought the instinct to back up. "Yes. Yes, you were very nice. The um... nicest human I have ever met. Very very nice. You were great." Just to be certain she was clear, the she-wolf added, "Nicest."

The woman seemed to relax. She smiled at the Ayame before glancing down and frowning at her kimono. "I have not yet found the courage to dress in the manner in which Kagome has been described." She glanced at Ayame's bare legs before frowning at her own clothes once more. Then she brightened up and smiled again. "However, I have been practicing my adorable smile. My beloved Hojo often talks about Kagome's adorable smile."

"It is a nice smile," Ayame said as she began looking for a way to leave quickly. She was a little too uncomfortable to stay longer, even for the nice warm fire.

"Just... nice?" The woman's face crumpled, looking like she was going to cry.

"No!" Ayame waved her hands in front of her, trying to shoo away the word 'nice'. "Better than nice. Cute! Very cute. A very cute smile."

Kagome's lip trembled and her eyes watered. "But not adorable?" She took a deep breath and forcibly smiled again. "Is this better?"

Gone were the tears and the trembling. The woman was actually smiling cheerfully, as if her near breakdown had never happened. For the first time since she had escaped from her pact on her journey, the demon was afraid.

Ayame's "yes" came out as a strangled whisper.

"My husband once told Kagome that he loved her with all of his strength, that he would die to protect her. One day I hope..." She paused, then tried the adorable smile again, "I hope that I WILL be the Kagome he loves."

The she-wolf had nothing to say to that. It didn't seem to matter, Kagome seemed to have forgotten her presence as she got up to go help her husband... her beloved husband... clean the dishes. She turned just before leaving the camp.

"We will be glad to help you find Kagome Higurashi. I would very much like to meet her." Then she left.

And so did Ayame.

In fact, she ran as fast as her feet would take her, creating a tornado of leaves and flowers in her wake. She couldn't run fast enough.

Is that what Kouga wanted? Would he love her if she were more like Kagome? If she tried to be as nice as Kagome or work on her adorable smile? Would he be happy if she became a copy of the woman he loved? Could she do it?

Would... would he make her dye her lovely red hair? Ayame pulled one of her ponytails over her shoulder, imagining it the same inky black that she remembered from Kagome. If their children had Kouga's black hair instead of her red hair... would he pretend they were his and Kagome's cubs?

Her mouth tightened in anger and her eyes narrowed and she snarled and skidded to a stop. She glared up at the moon. Kouga had promised to marry her while they were under the moon when she was young. But he hadn't promised to love her. But love her or not, there was NO WAY she was letting him pretend that her child was someone else's.

Staring up at the moon with her hands resting on her still flat stomach, she wondered if she could change her entire personality to suit her husband.

Could she?

Is winning his love worth losing herself?

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Author's Note: It always troubled me that Suzaku was okay with changing her name to Kagome...

Thank you all for reading and for the reviews!


	3. Jinenji Loves Kagome

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Jinenji Loves Kagome

She was going to die.

No one could be this sick and live.

The baby was going to die and it was all her fault.

No.

It was Kouga's fault!

Before Ayame could scream obscenities into the dawn, she began throwing up once more. Then she curled into a ball and sobbed

She was hungry, and oddly repulsed by the thought of food at the same time. She hadn't been raised to hunt her own food. Before living with Kouga and his pack she had lived with her own pack in the mountains. Sure she had come down from time to time to see if she could find her fiancé, but she never was alone for long.

And now she was alone.

Alone and hungry and cold. It couldn't get much worse.

"Of course," she muttered miserably as it began to rain.

She wanted to lie there in the rain and wallow in her misery. She was tired. Tired of traveling. Tired of being hungry. Tired of being tired. And so very tired of being alone.

Sighing she pulled herself up and forced herself to her feet. She wasn't alone, not really. She had her baby to think of, and she wouldn't be doing the little one any favors if she let the cold and the rain make her ill. Well... any more ill than she already was. She had to keep moving.

Since she did not know where else to go, Ayame began heading in the direction that a young bat hanyou had told her to go to find Inuyasha and Kagome. The directions had been very vague, but they were all she had. She had already been traveling for weeks after meeting Shiori, and she seemed no closer to finding Kagome since she started her journey.

She was beginning to lose hope.

Sniff sniff... a demon up ahead, no, only half demon. One hanyou and one human. Could it be? Could she have finally found Inuyasha and Kagome?

For the first time in over a week, Ayame had the energy to run.

So happy with being close to the end of her journey she forgot about being angry with the miko. She was just thrilled to be done!

Up ahead was a small cottage with a nice large garden. She didn't remember Inuyasha settling down into a cottage... but she supposed it was inevitable. After all, Kouga wasn't the only one in love with Kagome. Ayame remembered just why she was angry with the miko and she picked up speed.

"AAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Ayame skidded to a halt, barely keeping her balance as she stopped. She quickly moved into a battle stance, embarrassed she had screamed. Thank goodness Kouga wasn't here to see, or hear, that.

The giant demon just looked at her with impossibly huge bulging eyes. He was just... HUGE! The she-wolf demon swallowed hard as she debated on fighting or running. If he swung at her with one of those giant scarred arms, even as fast as she was she couldn't hope to outdistance that reach. And if his fists connected, fists that had to be at least half as big as she was tall, she would be dead instantly. On the other hand... she was not terribly certain she would survive a battle with him. She had her little one to think of. She couldn't afford to make a stupid mistake.

"I want no t..trouble, d..demon."

He blinked at her, stone still. Perhaps he was waiting for her to move first to know which way to strike. Breathing fast, heart beating faster, Ayame bounced on her toes to get ready to dart away the second he twitched.

"Maaaaaaaa!" the demon wailed.

Ayame's eyes widened. This was a BABY DEMON? How big must his mother be? Why oh why did she leave home?

"Jinenji!"

Ayame jumped at the sound of the scratchy voice. She stumbled and fell to the ground when she saw the monster's mother.

"Why didn't you say we had a guest?" the old woman chastised her son.

The woman was... tiny! Teeny tiny! Ayame looked from the teeny tiny woman to the enormous giant of a son. How had the woman survived childbirth?

"Been ill, young one?"

Ayame blushed. She was mortified. How dreadful she must look! And smell! The look of sympathy in the old woman's eyes set her off crying, fear forgotten in her embarrassment. Quickly the woman ordered her son to fetch water then to fetch herbs. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Ayame let herself be led into the nice warm cabin.

She didn't care that they were strangers. She didn't care that one was human and the other a monstrous hanyou. All she cared about was being warm and dry and comfortable for at least a few minutes.

"Don't be afraid of Jinenji," the old woman said quietly. "He is a gentle soul."

Ayame sat on a wooden chair gratefully and ate the plate of fruits and vegetables placed in front of her. It wasn't meat, but it was food and she was starving. The woman began talking, and eventually Ayame decided it would be polite to pay attention since she was being fed. She listened drowsily to the old woman tell about how she fell in love with a horse demon while in his human form. He was handsome and kind and they were very much in love. The woman continued to tell her story as she filled a tub with the water she had heated up. Just as she ended the tragic story with her husband's death and the birth of Jinenji, she handed Ayame a cloth to clean herself.

To be clean! Oh how wonderful! She took off her clothing and stepped into the tub, sinking down into the warm water and letting it chase the chill from her bones. Before Ayame could respond in any way, even sigh in bliss, the old woman had taken the clothes she had been wearing and left her to her bath in privacy.

Though she would have liked to relax in the warm water, she knew that it would be dangerous to become too relaxed among strangers. Potentially dangerous strangers. Quickly she rubbed the cloth roughly over her skin to take off the dirt and grime from her long travels. Then she scrubbed her hair. When she opened her eyes she grimaced at the now muddy looking water. Quickly she stood up... and realized she had a problem.

She had nothing to put on.

Ayame slunk out of the tub and snatched to cloth covering the table, wrapping it around herself. Dripping water across the floor, she went to the door and tested it to make sure they hadn't locked her in. They hadn't. Quietly she let herself outside to find her gear. She was surprised to see the giant hanyou nervously trying to hide behind his mother as she appeared to be cleaning the she-wolf's clothes.

"Be a dear and show our guest the garden," the woman told her son. "She will need some more herbs to take with her on her journey to calm her stomach."

"Y...yes mama..."

Ayame was stunned to see that he was actually shaking! Silently she followed him to the garden and watched as he nimbly clipped leaves. He was surprisingly gentle when he started tending the plants, tenderly taking clippings and setting them in a basket. Yes, gentle. That was the best word to describe Jinenji. Gentle... and very quiet. She felt like she should say something to break the silence, but really wasn't sure what she should say.

"I'm looking for Kagome Higurashi," she said eventually, grasping for anything just to break the silence.

The hanyou lit up with happiness. "Kagome? I know Kagome!"

"You do?"

"Oh yes! She is a wonderful person!"

"You... you love Kagome?"

Jinenji actually blushed. "Yes... but not like that. I could never hope... No no... I love her kind soul. She is the first person to see ME, not just some... some monster."

Ayame lowered her eyes, not liking that 'monster' had been just the word she had used to describe him to herself. She hugged herself as she saw how just un-monsterlike he was. He was perhaps the most gentle and kind creature she had ever met. Kagome had seen that right away...

"She was even more scared of a caterpillar on a leaf than of me!"

"That's..." Bizarre. "...Sweet."

Kagome... the miko who FIGHTS DEMONS... was afraid of a tiny little caterpillar? Ayame knelt carefully down on the ground and carefully picked up a tiny caterpillar that was crawling on a leaf. She looked at the creature and couldn't imagine being afraid of something so... so... squishable.

For a moment she was tempted to keep the tiny creature and take it with her on her journey, just to see if Kagome really was afraid of them. Then decided that was probably a bit mean. A bad example for the baby.

Apparently the topic of Kagome made the hanyou chatty. Ayame listened, or pretended to listen, as he continued to gather herbs.

She wished she had not stopped at the cottage, even though she was given food and a warm bath, not to mention the herbs to settle her stomach. She wished she had not met Jinenji and his mother. It was easy to dismiss Hojo's almost fanatical love of the ideal woman he believed Kagome to be... it was something else entirely to hear Jinenji talk about Kagome. It made her seem too much like a real person.

Worse... a likable person.

Ayame sighed. She had to get out of here before she completely lost her anger. Maybe after she took a warm nap inside like the old lady suggested. Or maybe after breakfast.

Definitely after breakfast. Maybe lunch.

...for the baby, of course...

Honest!

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Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get out. Life is one of those pesky things that likes to get in the way. Also, sorry if I've missed fixing any mistakes, finishing was rushed more than usual (believe it or not). But I go into surgery tomorrow morning and wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to write again so I may have hurried a bit...


	4. Sesshomaru Loves Kagome?

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.

Sesshomaru Loves Kagome?

She was going to die.

Really this time.

One moment she was heading in the direction Jinenji had suggested... the next there was a well-dressed, handsome, but very cold and terrifying demon standing in her path while she shivered in terror. He looked at her with narrowed golden eyes that chilled her all the way down to her soul.

He just stood there.

Watching.

Just watching!

Should she run? Try to go around? Ignore him? Try to charm him?

One look at the weapons he carried so easily clearly meant fighting that was out of the question. Traveling to find Kagome had taken so much longer than she had anticipated, and her belly had started to grow more noticeably... round during the trip. She couldn't risk the cub in a fight. Not... she admitted to herself truthfully... that fighting was really an option to begin with.

Nervously she shifted her weight from foot to foot as she played with the ends of one of her ponytails.

"Hello," she finally said. "I... I need to get by you."

His silver hair flashed in the light and he was gone. Ayame blinked, then her body sagged in relief, her hand dropping from her stomach. That was easy!

"You seek Kagome Higurashi."

Ayame squeaked in terror, leaping to the side and spinning around to face him... from where she landed on the ground.

How had he appeared behind her so fast? Not even Kouga could move that fast!

Scuttling backwards out of his reach, Ayame re-visited her options. Running seemed to be out of the question. Trying to go around did not seem very likely either. And she was not brave enough to try to ignore him... she couldn't take that chance. So her options were... charming him?

Yeah, she was as good as dead.

Still... she had to try.

"Heh... heh...hee..." she said in what she hoped was a charming girlish giggle as she tried to force her lips to smile. When his eyes narrowed she pressed her lips together and made sure it was a smile that did not show fangs.

"Um..." she said as she tried to gracefully get to her feet, but she was nearly certain it looked more like a mad panicked scramble, "Uh... yes... I am... um... looking for Kagome..."

She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked backwards on her heels, trying to look carefree and charming. Then quickly she moved her hands back in front of her as some small defense for her baby.

"Do... do you know where she is?"

She blinked her eyes quickly, a failed attempt at batting her eyes. Her stomach tightened and rolled in fear, and Ayame had a very bad feeling her defense against the demon was about to become... messy... and slightly disgusting.

Be charming! Flirt! DO SOMETHING AYAME!

"I'm sure someone as..." terrifying, absolutely bone chillingly terrifying!"... um... " terrifying, the only word she could think of was terrifying!"... uh... smart? as you would know which direction I should look?"

He stared at her as if she were a speck of nothing, which is exactly how she felt at the moment. Charming him was simply not going to work. What did she know of this demon? He was the brother, no, the half-brother of Inuyasha. They hated each other. Or... they used to. Did they still? There had been rumors, whispers in the pack, but she rarely paid them much attention. She had been trying much too hard to get the attention of Kouga.

Would he want Kagome dead to weaken Inuyasha? Or did he consider her family? Everyone who knew of Inuyasha knew that Kagome made him stronger. She is his strength and his weakness. To attack Kagome would be to attack Inuyasha. Just how would his half-brother, once enemy, take such an act?

From the stare of icy death, not likely very well.

Ayame really only had one option.

The truth.

She took a breath and steeled her nerves. Spreading her feet slightly apart, in case she would need to fight or flee, she squared her shoulders and looked up... far up... into those cold golden eyes. She may go down... but she would go down fighting to protect her little one. She was not defenseless. Deep breath out.

"I need to find her. I need to see her. To talk to her. My mate is obsessed with her. I need to find out why. ...why am I not enough?"

The she-wolf felt herself being judged. It made her nervous to be stared at so coldly and for so long, but she let him stare. When he turned his back on her she let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She apologized to her little one for doing so and patted her stomach.

"Come, Rin," Sesshomaru commanded. Then, without turning around, he said to Ayame, "Follow."

Ayame blinked. Did he just... he's going to lead her... really?

"Lord Sesshomaru brought Rin this pretty new kimono," a little girl said as she practically flew out of nowhere and brightly smiled at her. "He comes and visits Rin every week now that Rin live in the village with her new sister and brother. Rin likes Kagome and Inuyasha... but she misses Lord Sesshomaru when he is gone."

"GET BACK HERE AND SHOW LORD SESSHOMARU RESPECT!"

A funny green demon, Ayame had no idea what he was, chased after the little girl waving a creepy looking staff. It made Sesshomaru more... interesting because of the company he kept. Though... no less terrifying.

"You will love Kagome," Rin told her. "Everyone loves Kagome."

Ayame followed, terrified that at last she was finally going to confront Kagome and get her answers.

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Author's Note: Sorry it took so long! Thank you all for your reviews and your kind words, they mean a lot to me.

Author's Note II: I survived surgery! Both of them! One more to go!


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